Supercooling refrigerator

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is a supercooling refrigerator including: a main body having a refrigerating chamber for housing and holding stores including containers with a beverage filled therein in a supercooled state; a door for opening/closing an opened front or the refrigerating chamber; at least one shelf arranged in the refrigerating chamber in multiple stages with spaces therebetween for placing the stores thereon; a supply duct mounted in the refrigerating chamber in a vertical direction for circulating air in the refrigerating chamber; air holes formed in the supply duct; a heat exchanger arranged in the supply duct for cooling the air from the refrigerating chamber; a cooling unit connected to the heat exchanger for circulating refrigerant through the heat exchanger; and a mixing unit for introducing the air from the refrigerating chamber to the supply duct and continuously circulating the air to the refrigerating chamber through the heat exchanger, thereby permitting down-sizing of the refrigerator and supercooling beverages having different supercooling temperatures from one another at the same time.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to and the benefit of Korean PatentApplication No. 10-2014-0093789 filed in the Korean IntellectualProperty Office on Jul. 24, 2014, the entire contents of which areincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(a) Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a refrigerator for supercooling foodand drinks including beverages such as juice and alcohol.

(b) Description of the Related Art

As shown in patent documents 1-3, it is known that a beverage may befrozen into a sherbet state instantly by applying an impact to asuper-cooled beverage left in a liquid state below a freezing point.Patent document 3 discloses that, if the beverage in a plurality ofcontainers is super-cooled with the refrigerator, the container is drawnout of the refrigerator and the beverage is poured in a cup or the like,the beverage is instantly frozen into the sherbet state.

-   [Patent Document 1]: Japanese Laid Open Patent No. 2002-22333    Publication (Paragraph No. 0028-0029)-   [Patent Document 2]: Japanese Laid Open Patent No. 2001-325656    Publication (Paragraph No. 0019-0020)-   [Patent Document 3]: Japanese Laid Open Patent No. H10-9739    Publication (Paragraph No. 0017, FIG. 1)

There is a limit in a temperature range in which the supercooledbeverage is left in a liquid state (as an example, for an alcoholicbeverage it is −15° C.˜−12° C.). If the beverage has a temperaturethereof dropped below the limit described above, the beverage becomesfrozen in the refrigerator. Therefore, in order to have appropriatesupercooling of all beverages filled in a plurality of containers, it isrequired that an inside temperature of the refrigerator is made to beuniform within the limited temperature range. Further, the supercooledbeverage is susceptible to a temperature change to fail the sherbetstate freezing when the beverage is poured in the cup or the like, evenif the temperature is elevated only a few degrees. Therefore, it isrequired to stabilize the temperature by suppressing a temperaturechange in the refrigerator. In this point of view, patent document 3fails to disclose a detailed structure for making the temperature in therefrigerator uniform and stable.

On this point, the applicant of the present invention has achieved aneffect on making stable and effective supercooling in Korea RegisteredPatent No. 10-1205822 (Title of the invention: Refrigerator) previouslyfiled and registered.

The applicant of the present invention has continued with research anddevelopment on the related art refrigerator in an attempt to develop arefrigerator that is further advanced and which may simplify a structureof the refrigerator to down-size the same and may supercool differentproducts having different supercooling temperatures from one another.

The above information disclosed in this Background section is only forenhancement of understanding of the background of the invention andtherefore it may contain information that does not form the prior artthat is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill inthe art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been made in an effort to provide asupercooling refrigerator having advantages of down-sizing a related artrefrigerator and supercooling beverages having different supercoolingtemperatures from one another.

An object of the present invention is to provide a supercoolingrefrigerator by improving a related art refrigerator, enablingdown-sizing of the same.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a multiple levelsupercooling refrigerator for supercooling beverages having supercoolingtemperatures different from one another.

To achieve the objects of the present invention, a supercoolingrefrigerator may include: a main body having a refrigerating chamber forhousing and holding stores including containers with a beverage filledtherein in a supercooled state; a door for opening/closing an openedfront or the refrigerating chamber; at least one shelf arranged in therefrigerating chamber in multiple stages with spaces therebetween forplacing the stores thereon; a supply duct mounted in the refrigeratingchamber in a vertical direction for circulating air in the refrigeratingchamber; air holes formed in the supply duct; a heat exchanger arrangedin the supply duct for cooling the air from the refrigerating chamber; acooling unit connected to the heat exchanger for circulating refrigerantthrough the heat exchanger; and a mixing unit for introducing the airfrom the refrigerating chamber to the supply duct and continuouslycirculating the air to the refrigerating chamber through the heatexchanger.

The main body may have a separator formed therein in a horizontaldirection to form at least two refrigerating chambers in the main bodyseparated from each other, the door may be mounted to each of the openedfront sides of the refrigerating chambers to individually open/close therefrigerating chambers, and each of the refrigerating chambers may havethe supply duct, the heat exchanger, and the mixing unit providedthereto to be operated.

The refrigerating chambers in the main body may have differentsupercooling temperature ranges of the stores from one another.

The cooling unit may include a compressor connected to the heatexchanger for compressing a refrigerant, and a condenser for condensingthe compressed refrigerant and forwarding the condensed refrigerant tothe heat exchanger, wherein the cooling unit may be provided in a pluralnumber thereof that is matched to a number of the refrigerating chambersand arranged on a lower side of the refrigerating chamber.

The supply duct may have an inlet formed between an upper side thereofand the main body, and the mixing unit may include at least one fan orblower mounted to the inlet to the supply duct for drawing the air fromthe refrigerating chamber into the inlet to the supply duct andcirculating the air to the refrigerating chamber through air holes bydriving the fan or blower.

The supply duct may be mounted connected between a top and a bottom ofthe main body, and the mixing unit may include at least one fan orblower arranged over the heat exchanger in the supply duct forcirculating the air from the refrigerating chamber through the air holesin the supply duct by the fan or blower.

The supply duct may be mounted to be connected between a top and abottom of a main body, with a partition wall formed therein forpartitioning a heat exchanging area and an air hole area to partitionthe supply duct into a heat exchanger passage and an air hole passage,with the heat exchanger passage having an inlet connected to anintroduction hole formed in the supply duct and an outlet connected tothe air hole passage through the partition wall, wherein the mixing unitmay include at least one fan or blower mounted to the outlet of thepartition wall or the heat exchanger passage for circulating the airfrom the refrigerating chamber to the supply duct through the air holesformed in the supply duct.

The supercooling refrigerator may further include a temperature sensormounted to the supply duct for detecting a temperature of therefrigerating chamber, and a controller for calculating a detected valueof the temperature sensor and controlling the cooling unit and themixing unit to make the temperature of the refrigerating chamber bewithin a predetermined temperature range.

The air holes may be formed in a front side of the supply ductdistributed thereon at a position matched to an upper space of each ofthe shelves.

The air holes may have a number or a size thereof that is increased as aformed position of the hole goes from the lower side to the upper sideof the refrigerating chamber the more.

The supply duct may be mounted at at least one side of an inner side orto opposite side of the refrigerating chamber.

The main body may have two refrigerating chambers provided therein inthe vertical direction, wherein the temperature of one refrigeratingchamber is controlled to be in a range of 0° C.˜−10° C., and thetemperature of the other refrigerating chamber is controlled to be in arange of −10° C.˜−20° C. Thus, according to the preferred embodiments ofthe present invention, the arrangement of the heat exchanger in thesupply duct for forming the cold air permits down-sizing of therefrigerator enabling maximal enlargement of the refrigerating chamber.

Therefore, spatial utilization of the refrigerating chamber may beenhanced, and even if the refrigerating chamber has two or more levels,there will be less inconvenience of use owing to a lower height of therefrigerator.

Moreover, the multiple levels of the refrigerating chambers withindividual operation of the multiple refrigerating chambers permitsupercooling of various products having different supercoolingtemperatures from one another and serving the products.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a longitudinal cross-sectional view ofa supercooling refrigerator in accordance with a first preferredembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 schematically illustrates a partial front view of a supercoolingrefrigerator in accordance with a first preferred embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 3 schematically illustrates a plan view of an air curtain unit in asupercooling refrigerator in accordance with a first preferredembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 schematically illustrates a plan view of a cooling unit in asupercooling refrigerator in accordance with a first preferredembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of a control system for controlling asupercooling refrigerator in accordance with a first preferredembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 schematically illustrates a longitudinal cross-sectional view ofa supercooling refrigerator in accordance with a second preferredembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 schematically illustrates a longitudinal cross-sectional view ofa supercooling refrigerator in accordance with a third preferredembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Technical terms used hereafter are only for describing a particularembodiment, and are not intended to limit the present invention. Asingular expression in this specification includes a plural expressionas long as the singular expression is not obviously singular in view ofa context of a passage. The word of “include” used in this specificationspecifies particular characteristics, regions, integers, steps, actions,elements, and/or components, but does not exclude existence or additionof other particular characteristics, regions, integers, steps, actions,elements, components, and/or groups.

Hereafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will bedescribed with reference to the attached drawings such that a personskilled in this field of art may easily carry out the present invention.As a person skilled in this field of art may easily carry out thepresent invention, the preferred embodiment described hereafter may bevaried and modified within aspects and the scope of the presentinvention. Accordingly, as those skilled in the art would realize, thedescribed embodiments may be modified in various different ways, allwithout departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention.

FIGS. 1 to 5 illustrate a supercooling refrigerator in accordance with afirst preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, the first preferred embodiment will be described taking asupercooling refrigerator 100 applicable to beverages, such as juice andalcoholic drinks, as an example. However, the supercooling refrigerator100 is not limited thereto, and is applicable not only to the beverages,but also to agricultural and marine products, such as fish, meat,vegetable, and fruit, and all other food and drinks, such as frieddishes.

As shown in FIG. 1, the supercooling refrigerator 100 in accordance withthe present exemplary embodiment includes a main body 10 having arefrigerating chamber 12 for housing and holding containers P with abeverage filled therein in a supercooled state, a door 14 mounted to anopened front of the main body 10 for opening/closing the opened front, aplurality of shelves 16 arranged in the refrigerating chamber 12 inmultiple stages with spaces therebetween for placing the containersthereon, a supply duct 20 mounted in the refrigerating chamber 12 in avertical direction for circulating air in the refrigerating chamber 12,air holes 22 formed in the supply duct 20, a heat exchanger 23 arrangedin the supply duct 20 in a vertical direction for cooling the air in therefrigerating chamber 12, a cooling unit 28 connected to the heatexchanger 23 for circulating refrigerant through the heat exchanger 23,and a mixing unit for introducing the air from the refrigerating chamber12 to the supply duct 20 and continuously circulating the air to therefrigerating chamber 12 through the heat exchanger 23.

The main body 10 is a hexahedral heat insulated structure having anopened front side and the other closed sides. The main body 10 has thefront side with the door 14 rotatably mounted thereto foropening/closing the opened front. The door 14 is constructed of a heatinsulated structure, and may have a window made of a transparentmaterial added to a front side thereof for looking inside.

The main body 10 has an inside which construes the refrigerating chamber12 which is a space for holding the container P therein. In therefrigerating chamber 12 in the main body 10, there are a plurality ofhorizontal shelves 16 arranged in the vertical direction with spacestherebetween for placing the containers thereon. In this case, thevertical direction is a direction vertical from a floor when therefrigerator 100 is installed on the floor.

The refrigerator in accordance with the first preferred embodiment has aseparator 30 formed in the main body 10 in a horizontal direction toform two refrigerating chambers 12 in the main body separated in thevertical direction. The upper and lower refrigerating chambers 12 arecompletely separated by the separator 30 from each other to formindividual spaces. The separator 30 may be formed as one unit with themain body.

There are two doors mounted to the opened front sides of therefrigerating chambers 12 for opening/closing the refrigerating chambers12, respectively. Each of the refrigerating chambers 12 has the supplyduct 20, the heat exchanger 23, and the mixing unit provided thereto tobe individually operated. The refrigerator may have one separator 30provided thereto to form two stories of the refrigerating chambers 12 inthe vertical direction, or a plurality of separators provided thereto inaddition to the two refrigerating chambers 12 to form three or morerefrigerating chambers.

In this case, the refrigerator 100 in accordance with the firstpreferred embodiment has a structure in which temperatures of therefrigerating chambers 12, i.e., supercooling temperature ranges ofgoods in the refrigerating chambers 12, are different from one another.

Of the beverages, the alcoholic beverages, such as beer and soju, have afreezing point of about −10° C.˜−18° C., and other beverages such asjuice and so on have a freezing point of about −8° C.˜0° C.

Therefore, of the two refrigerating chambers provided in the verticaldirection in the main body, the refrigerator in accordance with thefirst preferred embodiment may have the temperature of one refrigeratingchamber controlled to be in a range of 0° C.˜−10° C., and thetemperature of the other refrigerating chamber controlled to be in arange of −10° C.˜−20° C.

Thus, by controlling the supercooling temperatures of the refrigeratingchambers 12 to be different from each other, the alcoholic beverages andthe juice beverages having the different supercooling temperaturesseparately stored in the refrigerating chambers 12 may be supercooled atthe same time. Therefore, by supercooling containers of differentbeverages in one refrigerator 100 at the same time, differentsupercooled beverages may be served at the same time.

Since the two refrigerating chambers 12 provided in the main body 10have structures that are identical in the first preferred embodiment,description of the refrigerating chambers 12 will be made hereafter withreference to the refrigerating chamber 12 arranged on an upper sidewhile description of the refrigerating chamber 12 on a lower side isomitted.

As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of different containers P, such as PETbottles, cans, paper packs, and bottles containing a beverage, such asan alcoholic drink, are placed on the shelves 16 provided in therefrigerating chamber 12. The containers P are placed in therefrigerating chamber 12 arranged in a front/rear direction and aleft/right direction with respect to the shelves 16. The containers Pare stored at a temperature below the freezing point of the beverage inthe supercooled state in which the beverage is maintained in an unfrozenstate in the refrigerating chamber 12. In this case, if the container Pis taken out of the refrigerator and has vibration applied thereto, orif the beverage therein is poured in a cup or the like, the beverage isinstantly frozen into a sherbet state.

The shelf 16 has a flat plate structure. The shelf 16 has a surface witha plurality of guide rails 13 formed thereon for flow of cold air. Theguide rails 13 spaced apart from one another are protruded upward, and agroove between adjacent guide rails 13 functions as a passage for flowof the cold air. Accordingly, when the container is placed on the shelf,the container is placed on the guide rails 13 protruded upward from theshelf 16, allowing the groove between the guide rails to maintain thepassage. With this, the cold air in the refrigerating chamber 12 flowsthrough the passage between the guide rails smoothly, to quickly anduniformly cool the containers placed on the shelf.

As shown in FIG. 2, one pair of shelf columns 18 are mounted on oppositeleft/right sides inside the refrigerating chamber 12 in a front/reardirection with a space therebetween. Each of the shelf columns 18 has aninside surface facing the refrigerating chamber 12 with a plurality ofmounting holes 15 formed therein in the vertical direction for mountinga shelf support member 17 thereto. Each of the shelf support members 17is supported on the inside of the refrigerating chamber 12 by the shelfcolumns 18. Each of the shelves 16 is supported on the shelf supportmembers 17 mounted on the shelf columns 18.

In this case, the container P is in the supercooled state on the shelf,and has the beverage therein that is frozen upon application of anexternal impact thereto. In the first preferred embodiment, since theshelf support member 17 is mounted to the columns 18 provided to themain body, the shelf support member 17 enables a secure supporting forceto support the shelf. The columns 18 are mounted at respective cornersof the main body having a rectangular structure. The shelf supportmembers 17 which support the shelf are mounted to the columns 18 forsupporting the shelf more securely. Therefore, shaking of the shelf maybe minimized. There is a vibration damping member 19 additionallymounted on the shelf support member 17 for damping an impact between theshelf support member 17 and the shelf. The vibration damping member 19may be formed of, for an example, an impact preventive material, such asrubber, silicone, and a gel.

The shelf 16 has edges thereof placed on the vibration preventive member19. With this, the shelf 16 is seated on the shelf support member 17with the vibration preventive member 19 interposed therebetween, forsuppressing transmission of vibration from the main body 10 of therefrigerating chamber to the container P through the shelf supportmember 17 and the shelf 16.

The shelf support member 17 is made to be detachable from the columns 18of the refrigerating chamber 12 for adjusting a position of the shelfsupport member 17 in the vertical direction of the refrigerating chamber12 as required. Therefore, a space or a position of the shelf 16 may beappropriately adjusted according to a size of the container P or thelike. For this, the column 18 has the mounting holes 15 formed thereinwith spaces therebetween in the vertical direction for inserting theshelf support member 17 therein. Therefore, by inserting the shelfsupport member 17 in one side mounting hole 15 in the vertical directionof the column 18, the shelf may be secured to a desired position bymoving a position of the shelf support member 17.

The container P containing the beverage is stored in the supercooledstate in which the beverage is maintained in an unfrozen state at atemperature below the freezing point of the beverage within therefrigerating chamber 12. An inside temperature of the refrigeratingchamber 12 is appropriately controlled and maintained in a range ofabout 0° C.˜−20° C. to meet a supercooling condition of the beverageplaced thereon.

For reducing the inside temperature of the refrigerating chamber 12 tomeet the supercooling condition, the heat exchanger 23, the supply duct20, and the mixing unit are provided in the refrigerating chamber 12.The heat exchanger 23 is connected to the cooling unit 28 arranged on alower side of the main body for having the refrigerant supplied thereto.

The supply duct 20 supplies and circulates the cold air that is cooledas the air passes through the heat exchanger 23 through the inside ofthe refrigerating chamber 12. The supply duct 20 has a front side with aplurality of air holes 22 formed therein to be in communication with theinside of the refrigerating chamber 12.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, in the first preferred embodiment, the supplyduct 20 is mounted to an inner side of the refrigerating chamber 12 in avertical direction. A mounting position of the supply duct 20 is notlimited to the inner side of the refrigerating chamber 12, and may bepositioned on opposite sides facing each other.

The supply duct 20 has a front side, i.e., a side facing therefrigerating chamber 12, with a plurality of air holes 22 arranged inthe vertical direction of the supply duct to make the refrigeratingchamber 12 and the supply duct 20 be in communication.

The supply duct 20 has an opened top side to form an inlet forintroducing the air from the refrigerating chamber 12 thereto, and theair holes 22 formed in the front side construe an outlet.

The mixing unit includes a fan or a blower 35 mounted to the top sideinlet of the supply duct 20. Therefore, the air is drawn into the supplyduct 20 from the refrigerating chamber 12 by the fan or blower 35, andis supplied to the refrigerating chamber 12 again through the air holes22 formed in the front side of the supply duct 20, to continuouslycirculate the air within the refrigerating chamber. That is, acontinuous air flow is formed within the refrigerating chamber by thesupply duct 20 and the mixing unit.

In the first preferred embodiment, the supply duct 20 has the heatexchanger 23 mounted therein for cooling the air from the refrigeratingchamber 12. Therefore, the air introduced to the supply duct 20 throughthe inlet from the refrigerating chamber 12 is cooled as the air passesthrough the heat exchanger 23 and is discharged as cold air through theair holes 22 which are outlets.

Thus, by arranging the heat exchanger 23 in the supply duct 20, thespace of the refrigerating chamber 12 may be enlarged as much aspossible. Particularly, in comparison to a structure in which therelated art heat exchanger is arranged on a top side or a bottom side ofthe refrigerating chamber, the refrigerating chamber 12 may have a spacethereof that is enlarged upward or downward. Therefore, as previouslydescribed, even if the refrigerator 100 has two or more stories of therefrigerating chambers 12, a total height of the refrigerator may bereduced. Therefore, fabrication of a refrigerator having multiple-levelrefrigerating chambers 12 is possible, and since a height of therefrigerator is low, even a top refrigerating chamber 12 may be usedmore conveniently.

The heat exchanger 23 in the supply duct 20 cools surrounding air with acooling action in which latent heat is absorbed from the surrounding airwhile evaporating a refrigerant. The heat exchanger 23 is mounted, as anexample, on a wall of the main body within the supply duct 20 spaced bya predetermined distance from the inside of the supply duct 20 to form agap therebetween. While the air moves through the gap between the heatexchanger 23 and the inside of the supply duct 20, the air heatexchanges with the heat exchanger 23.

The air is drawn from the refrigerating chamber 12 by the fan or blower35 mounted to the inlet of the supply duct 20, cooled at the heatexchanger 23, and supplied through the air holes 22 in the supply duct20 to circulate through the refrigerating chamber 12. Accordingly, theheat exchanger 23 may be a heat absorbing unit of the cooling unit 28.

The heat exchanger 23 is connected to the cooling unit 28 arranged on alower side of the refrigerator main body 10. The cooling unit 28 has acompressor 24, a condenser 25, and an expansion valve, and is housed ina machinery compartment arranged at the lower side of the main body. Asshown in FIG. 4, the machinery compartment may have a plurality of thecooling units 28 provided thereto matched to a number of therefrigerating chambers 12 in the main body. For an example, as describedabove, if two refrigerating chambers 12 are provided, the machinerycompartment may have two cooling units 28 connected to the heatexchangers 23 in the refrigerating chambers 12, respectively. The firstpreferred embodiment suggests cooling of each of the refrigeratingchambers 12 with each of the cooling units 28 individually.

The supply duct 20 has the top side inlet formed to be sloped downwardtoward a front side of the refrigerating chamber 12 where the door 14is. The fan or the blower 35 is mounted to the inlet to the supply duct20. The blower 35 has a lengthy cylindrical fan provided thereto, oneside thereof has a suction opening formed thereon, and the other sidethereof has a discharge opening formed thereon.

The blower 35 is arranged such that the suction opening faces an innerside of the refrigerating chamber 12, and the discharge opening faces aninner side of the supply duct 20. The blower 35 draws the air from therefrigerating chamber 12 into the supply duct 20.

The air drawn into the supply duct 20 thus is mixed with cold air cooledby the heat exchanger 23 within the supply duct 20, and is supplied tothe refrigerating chamber 12 through the air holes 22 in the supply duct20. The mixed cold air supplied to the refrigerating chamber riseswithin the refrigerating chamber 12, is drawn into the supply ductthrough the inlet, and is cooled again. Therefore, the cold air in therefrigerating chamber 12 consistently circulates in one direction tocool the beverage. Such uniform cold air circulation maintains atemperature difference between an upper side and a lower side of therefrigerating chamber to be below 1° C. Eventually, since therefrigerating chamber 12 has a very uniform temperature maintained bythe circulating cold air, the beverage placed therein may maintain thesupercooled state.

In the first preferred embodiment, as the blower 35 is used as anelement which draws the air through the inlet to the supply duct 20,preventing inside/outside air from mixing, and making the air flow inone direction, accurate and consistent control and maintenance is madepossible. Moreover, an air blowing area may be increased, an air flowrate may be increased or decreased easily by controlling a speed of theblower 35 enabling precise control of the flow rate, and noise caused byair suction may be reduced.

The air introduced to the supply duct 20 is cooled down and dischargedto the refrigerating chamber 12 through the air holes 22 formed in thefront side of the supply duct 20. The air holes 22 are formed at aposition that is matched to an upper space of each of the shelves 16arranged in the vertical direction. That is, the air holes 22 are formedto an upper side such that the air holes 22 face an upper side of thecontainer when the container is placed on the shelf 16.

The air holes 22 may be formed to be distributed uniformly between widthdirection opposite sides of the refrigerating chamber 12. Further, theair holes 22 arranged matched to the shelves at respective verticaldirection stages have a number of holes or diameters formed to be thesmaller as the holes are positioned more to the upper side. Therefore,the air may flow at a substantially uniform rate between the supply duct20 and the refrigerating chamber 12 through the air holes 22 formedmatched to the shelves 16 in the vertical direction of the refrigeratingchamber 12. In some cases, such as when a cross-sectional area of apassage of the supply duct 22 is small, the air holes 22 may be set suchthat a number thereof facing the upper side of the space of the shelfbecomes smaller as the shelf is positioned more to a lower side.

The refrigerator in accordance with the first preferred embodiment has acontroller 42 (see FIG. 5) for controlling operation of the blower 35 tocontrol the temperature of the refrigerating chamber 12. In order todetect the temperature of the refrigerating chamber 12, a temperaturesensor 41 is mounted to one side of the supply duct 20.

The temperature sensor 41 may be mounted at a position matched to eachof the shelves 16. The controller 42 drives the compressor 24 accordingto a result of detection of the temperature sensor 41, to form the coldair with the heat exchanger 23, or controls the air flow rate of theblower 35 for controlling the temperature of the refrigerating chamber12.

At a side of the door 14 of the main body 10, there is a door sensor(see 44 in FIG. 5) mounted thereto for opening/closing the door 14. Thecontroller 42 may turn off operation of the cooling unit or the mixingunit when the door 14 is opened depending on an output value of the doorsensor 44. That is, when the door 14 is opened, the controller 42forcibly turns off operation of the blower 35 and the compressor 24 andsuppresses a rise of the temperature in the refrigerator depending on anoutput signal from the door sensor 44.

When the door 14 is closed, the controller 42 re-starts operation of theblower 35 and the compressor 24.

For controlling a temperature of the cold air, the refrigerator inaccordance with the first preferred embodiment of the present inventionmay further include a heater 45 to be mounted in the supply duct 20 forheating the cold air. The heater 45 is constructed of a hot wire forconverting electrical energy into thermal energy and is mounted on abottom in the supply duct 20. If the heater 45 is turned on, the heater45 elevates the temperature of the mixed cold air, preventing thetemperature of the refrigerating chamber 12 from dropping sharply, tomake the temperature drop slowly. Therefore, the cold air may beappropriately controlled to meet a supercooling temperature range of thebeverage.

In order to minimize a temperature change of the refrigerating chamber12, the refrigerator in accordance with the first preferred embodimentof the present invention further includes at least one shielding member48 arranged continuously in the vertical direction on a front side ofthe refrigerating chamber 12 for shielding the refrigerating chamber 12.

In the first preferred embodiment, the shielding member 48 may be acurtain. The curtain is arranged on the front side of the refrigeratingchamber 12 at a position matched to each of the shelves for shielding anopened front side of the refrigerating chamber 12 in front of each ofthe shelves. The curtain minimizes inflow of external air into therefrigerating chamber 12 when the door 14 is opened. Therefore, atemperature rise of the refrigerating chamber 12 caused by opening ofthe door 14 may be suppressed.

The curtain may be formed of a transparent vinyl resin which is softeven at a low temperature. The curtain may have a structure in which thecurtain is mounted to a rod or the like which is supported by oppositesides of the refrigerating chamber 12 and hung thereon. The curtain iscut in the vertical direction at fixed spacing. Therefore, after puttingthe curtain cut thus to one side, the container may be easily taken outof or put in the refrigerating chamber 12.

In the first preferred embodiment, the shielding member 48 may beconstructed of an inner door provided to an inner side of the door. Theinner door has a structure in which it is arranged on the front side ofthe refrigerating chamber 12 at a position matched to each of theshelves and rotatably mounted to the refrigerating chamber 12 toopen/close the refrigerating chamber 12.

Therefore, the inner door prevents external air from entering into therefrigerating chamber 12 when the door 14 is opened. And, by openingonly the inner door arranged to the shelf to put a container therein ortake it out, a temperature change of the container placed on othershelves may be minimized.

In the meantime, the refrigerator may further include an air curtainunit mounted to the shelf for ejecting air to the front side of therefrigerating chamber 12 in the vertical direction for cutting off lossof the cold air from the front side of the refrigerating chamber 12.

As shown in FIG. 3, the air curtain unit may include an air blower 50mounted to a front edge of the shelf 16 arranged on the front side ofthe refrigerating chamber 12 for drawing the cold air from therefrigerating chamber 12 and discharging the cold air in the verticaldirection, and a power source unit 52 for supplying power to the airblower 50.

The air blower 50 is mounted to be extended along a front edge of theshelf 16. The air blower 50 is provided with a cylindrical fan, and hasone side with a suction opening formed therein for drawing the air andthe other side with a discharge opening formed therein for dischargingthe cold air. In the first preferred embodiment, the suction opening ofthe air blower 50 is mounted to face a lower side, and the dischargeopening is mounted to face an upper side in the vertical direction fordischarging the cold air.

Therefore, the air blower 50 draws the cold air from the lower side ofthe refrigerating chamber 12, and blows the cold air toward the upperside in the vertical direction. Thus, the cold air flows on the frontside of the shelf in the vertical direction, functioning as if a curtainis provided to the front side of the refrigerating chamber 12.

Since the air blower 50 is mounted to each of the shelves 16, a flow ofthe cold air is formed on the front side of the shelves even if theposition of the shelf is changed within the refrigerating chamber 12.

Even if each of the shelves 16 is moved along the column 18, the powersource unit 52 is made to supply the power to the air blower 50regardless of the movement.

For this, the power source unit 52 includes a connecting connector 54mounted to a rear edge of the shelf 16 for having the power suppliedthereto, and a supply connector 56 mounted in the refrigerating chamber12 so as to have power applied thereto and electrically coupled to theconnecting connector 54.

The supply connector 56 is connected to a power source which appliespower to the main body 10 for having the power supplied thereto. Thesupply connector 56 is mounted to an inner side of the refrigeratingchamber 12 at a position matched to the connecting connector 54. Thesupply connector 56 is mounted in a plural number thereof to match amoving position of each of the shelves 16 in the vertical direction atfixed intervals. Therefore, after moving and securing the shelf supportmember 17 to a desired position, if the shelf 16 is put on a front endof the shelf support member 17 and pushed backward, the connectingconnector 54 mounted to the shelf is electrically engaged with thesupply connector 56 connecting the connecting connector 54.

Therefore, the power source is applied to the air blower 50 which iselectrically connected to the connecting connector 54 through the supplyconnector 56 and the connecting connector 54. Therefore, the air blower50 may be driven regardless of a position of the shelf, enablingformation of the air curtain with the cold air in front of the shelf.

By controlling supply of the power to the supply connector, the airblower 50 may be made to be driven only when the door 14 or theshielding member 48 is opened at a position of the shelf being used, andnot to be driven when the door or the shielding member is closed.

FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of a control system for controlling asupercooling state of a beverage stored in a refrigerator chamber 12 ofa refrigerator in accordance with a first preferred embodiment of thepresent invention with the controller 42. As described before, theplurality of refrigerating chambers 12 provided to the refrigerator areoperated at supercooling temperatures that are already respectively set,and the controller controls the refrigerating chambers 12 individuallyto be operated while matched to respective predetermined temperatureconditions.

In the first preferred embodiment, the controller 42 receives signalsfrom the temperature sensor 41, the door sensor 44, and an operatingunit 49 for setting a temperature, and compares and calculates the samewith data recorded in a storage unit 46.

Based on a result of the comparison and the calculation, the controller42 controls and operates the blower 35, the compressor 24, or the heater45 for controlling the temperature of the refrigerating chamber 12within a predetermined temperature range meeting the supercoolingtemperature of the beverage.

The controller 42 controls and operates the blower 35 or the heater 45to maintain the temperature of the refrigerating chamber 12 so as to notbe sharply changed if the temperature of the refrigerating chamber 12 iswithin the supercooling temperature range of the beverage.

Thus, the mixed cold air supplied to the refrigerating chamber 12through the supply duct 20 super-cools the beverage in the containersplaced on the shelves 16 of the refrigerating chamber 12. Then, the airis drawn into the supply duct 20 from the refrigerating chamber 12 asthe blower 35 is driven. The air drawn into the supply duct 20 thus iscooled as the air passes through the heat exchanger 23, and the cold airis supplied to the refrigerating chamber 12 through the air holes 22again as the blower 35 is driven.

The refrigerator may super-cool the beverage in the containers bymaintaining a uniform temperature without a temperature differencethroughout the refrigerating chamber by means of continuous circulationof the cold air, and may maintain the beverage in the container to be inthe supercooling state by controlling the temperature of the cold airmore easily.

FIG. 6 schematically illustrates a longitudinal cross-sectional view ofa supercooling refrigerator in accordance with a second preferredembodiment of the present invention.

The supercooling refrigerator in accordance with the second preferredembodiment of the present invention is identical to the first preferredembodiment of the present invention except for an air coolingcirculating structure in the refrigerating chamber. Accordingly, thesupercooling refrigerator in accordance with the second preferredembodiment of the present invention will be described taking arefrigerating chamber arranged on an upper side identical to theforegoing refrigerator as an example, and the same reference numberswill be used for identical elements and detailed description of whichwill be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 6, the supercooling refrigerator in accordance with thesecond preferred embodiment of the present invention has a supply duct60 mounted and connected between a top and a bottom of the refrigeratingchamber 12 of the main body, and the mixing unit includes at least onefan or blower 35 arranged over the heat exchanger 23 in the supply duct60 for circulating the air in the refrigerating chamber 12 through airholes 62 by the fan or blower 35.

The supply duct 60 is mounted to an inner side of the refrigeratingchamber 12 in a vertical direction. The supply duct 60 may not bemounted to the inner side of the refrigerating chamber 12, but may bemounted at opposite sides thereof. The supply duct 60 has a front side,i.e., a side facing the refrigerating chamber 12, with a plurality ofair holes 62 formed therein arranged in a length direction of the supplyduct for making the refrigerating chamber 12 communicate with the supplyduct 60.

In the second preferred embodiment, the supply duct 60 has a structurein which both ends thereof in the vertical direction are fixed to andblocked by the top and the bottom of the inside of the refrigeratingchamber 12, and the air holes 62 formed in the front side function aspassages for circulating the cold air cooled in the supply duct 60 withthe air in the refrigerating chamber 12.

A fan or a blower 35 which construes the mixing unit is mounted in aspace the supply duct 60 forms. The supply duct 60 has the heatexchanger 23 mounted therein for cooling the air in the refrigeratingchamber 12. Therefore, the air introduced to the supply duct through theair holes 62 from the refrigerating chamber 12 is cooled as the airpasses through the heat exchanger 23, and is discharged therefromthrough an outlet.

The heat exchanger 23 is mounted to, as an example, a wall side of themain body within the supply duct 60 with a predetermined space formed tothe inside surface of the supply duct 60 to form a gap therebetween. Asthe air moves through the gap between the heat exchanger 23 and theinside surface of the supply duct 60, the air heat exchanges with theheat exchanger 23, and is discharged through the air holes 62 formed inthe front side of the supply duct 60.

In the second preferred embodiment, the fan or blower 35 is arrangedover the heat exchanger 23 within the supply duct 60. The blower 35 isarranged such that a suction opening thereof faces the heat exchanger 23under the blower 35, and a discharge opening faces the front side of thesupply duct 60. The blower 35 draws in the cold air from the heatexchanger 23 arranged under the blower 35 and discharges the cold air tothe front side of the supply duct 60.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, the air is introduced to the supply duct60 from the refrigerating chamber 12 through the air holes 62 formed ina lower side of the supply duct 60 which is at a position relatively farfrom the blower 35, and moves to an upper side of the supply duct 60. Asthe blower 35 is arranged over the upper side of the supply duct 60, thecold air is ejected to the refrigerating chamber 12 through the airholes 62 arranged on the upper side of the supply duct 60.

The cold air ejected to the refrigerating chamber 12 from the upper sideair holes 62 of the supply duct 60 moves down to the lower side of therefrigerating chamber 12, is drawn into the supply duct through the airholes 62 formed in the lower side of the supply duct 60 again, and isre-cooled therein. As the cold air circulates in one directionconsistently in the refrigerating chamber 12, the cold air is providedfor cooling of the beverage.

FIG. 7 schematically illustrates a longitudinal cross-sectional view ofa supercooling refrigerator in accordance with a third preferredembodiment of the present invention.

The refrigerator in accordance with the third preferred embodiment isidentical to the foregoing embodiment except for an air coolingcirculating structure in the refrigerating chamber. Therefore, therefrigerator in accordance with the third preferred embodiment will bedescribed with reference to the refrigerating chamber arranged on theupper side the same as the foregoing embodiment as an example, elementsthat are identical to those of the foregoing embodiment will be givenidentical reference numbers, and detailed description of which will beomitted.

As shown in FIG. 7, the refrigerator 100 in accordance with the thirdpreferred embodiment of the present invention has a structure in which asupply duct 70 is mounted to be connected between a top and a bottom ofa main body to have air holes 72 formed in a front side thereof, with apartition wall 74 formed therein for partitioning a heat exchanging areaand an air hole area to partition the supply duct 70 into a heatexchanger passage 76 and an air hole passage 78, with the heat exchangerpassage to have an inlet connected to an introduction hole 73 formed inthe supply duct 70 and an outlet connected to the air hole passage 78through the partition wall 74. The mixing unit includes at least one fanor blower 35 mounted to the outlet of the partition wall 74 or the heatexchanger passage 76 for circulating the air from the refrigeratingchamber 12 to the supply duct 70 through the air holes 72 formed in thesupply duct 70.

The supply duct 70 is mounted on an inner side of the refrigeratingchamber 12 in a vertical direction. The supply duct 70 may not bemounted to the inner side of the refrigerating chamber 12, but may bemounted to opposite sides of the refrigerating chamber 12. The supplyduct 70 has a plurality of air holes 72 formed in the front side, i.e.,a side facing the refrigerating chamber 12, arranged in a lengthdirection of the supply duct for making the refrigerating chamber 12communicate with the supply duct 70.

In the third preferred embodiment, the supply duct 60 has a structure inwhich both ends thereof in the vertical direction are fixed to andblocked by the top and the bottom of an inside of the refrigeratingchamber 12, with an inside space thereof divided into the heat exchangerpassage 76 and the air hole passage 78 by the partition wall 74.

The partition wall 74 is arranged parallel to the supply duct 70 alongthe vertical direction of the main body, with a lower end thereofextended and connected to a front side of the supply duct 70. Therefore,the heat exchanger passage 76 has a lower end connected to the frontside of the supply duct at a lower side of the supply duct 70. Thesupply duct 70 has a front side of the lower side with an introductionhole 73 formed therein to be in communication with the heat exchangerpassage 76. Therefore, the heat exchanger passage 76 is in communicationwith the refrigerating chamber 12 through the introduction hole 73. As atop side of the partition wall 74 is opened, the heat exchanger passage76 and the air hole passage 78 partitioned by the partition wall 74 aremade to communicate.

The heat exchanger 23 is mounted in the heat exchanger passage 76partitioned by the partition wall 74. The front side of the supply duct70 which faces the air hole passage 78 has the air hole 72 formedtherein to be in communication with the air hole passage 78.

As shown in FIG. 7, in the third preferred embodiment, the fan or blower35 is mounted over the opened top side of the partition wall 74. Theblower 35 is arranged such that a suction opening thereof faces the heatexchanger passage 76 and a discharge opening thereof faces the air holepassage 78. The blower 35 draws in the cold air from the heat exchangerpassage 76 and discharges the cold air toward the air hole passage 78.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7, as the blower 35 is driven, the cold airpassed through the heat exchanger 23 is introduced from the heatexchanger passage 76 to the air hole passage 78, and supplied therefromto the refrigerating chamber 12 through the air hole 72 in the supplyduct 70 in communication with the air hole passage 78. The air is drawninto the heat exchanger passage 76 from the refrigerating chamber 12through the introduction hole 73 as the blower 35 is driven.

Thus, the air is moved toward the heat exchanger 23 from therefrigerating chamber 12 through the introduction hole 73 and cooleddown by the heat exchanger 23, and the cold air cooled down thus ismoved to the air hole passage 78 and is supplied to the refrigeratingchamber 12 through the air hole 72. In this course, the cold airconsistently circulates in one direction in the refrigerating chamber 12and is provided to cool down the beverage.

While this invention has been described in connection with what ispresently considered to be practical exemplary embodiments, it is to beunderstood that the invention is not limited to the disclosedembodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover variousmodifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit andscope of the appended claims.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS

10: main body 12: refrigerating chamber 14: door 15: mounting hole 16:shelf 17: shelf support member 18: column 19: vibration preventivemember 20, 60, 70: supply duct 22, 62, 72: air hole 23: heat exchanger24: compressor 25: condenser 28: cooling unit 30: separator 35: blower41: temperature sensor 42: controller 44: door sensor 45: heater 46:storage unit 48: shielding member 49: temperature controller 50: airblower 52: power source unit 54: connecting connector 56: supplyconnector 74: partition wall 76: heat exchanger passage 78: air holepassage

What is claimed is:
 1. A supercooling refrigerator comprising: a mainbody having a refrigerating chamber for housing and holding storesincluding containers with a beverage filled therein in a supercooledstate; a door for opening/closing an opened front or the refrigeratingchamber; at least one shelf arranged in the refrigerating chamber inmultiple stages with spaces therebetween for placing the stores thereon;a supply duct mounted in the refrigerating chamber in a verticaldirection for circulating air in the refrigerating chamber; air holesformed in the supply duct; a heat exchanger arranged in the supply ductfor cooling the air from the refrigerating chamber; a cooling unitconnected to the heat exchanger for circulating refrigerant through theheat exchanger; and a mixing unit for introducing the air from therefrigerating chamber to the supply duct and continuously circulatingthe air to the refrigerating chamber through the heat exchanger.
 2. Thesupercooling refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the main body has aseparator formed therein in a horizontal direction to form at least tworefrigerating chambers in the main body separated from each other, thedoor is mounted to each of the opened front sides of the refrigeratingchambers to individually open/close the refrigerating chambers, and eachof the refrigerating chambers has the supply duct, the heat exchanger,and the mixing unit provided thereto to be operated.
 3. The supercoolingrefrigerator of claim 2, wherein the refrigerating chambers in the mainbody have different supercooling temperature ranges on the stores fromone another.
 4. The supercooling refrigerator of claim 3, wherein themain body has two refrigerating chambers provided therein in thevertical direction, wherein the temperature of one refrigerating chamberis controlled to be in a range of 0° C.˜−10° C., and the temperature ofthe other refrigerating chamber is controlled to be in a range of −10°C.˜−20° C.
 5. The supercooling refrigerator of claim 2, wherein thecooling unit includes a compressor connected to the heat exchanger forcompressing a refrigerant, and a condenser for condensing the compressedrefrigerant and forwarding the compressed refrigerant to the heatexchanger, wherein the cooling unit is provided in a plural numberthereof that is matched to a number of the refrigerating chambers andarranged on a lower side of the refrigerating chamber.
 6. Thesupercooling refrigerator of claim 1, further comprising a temperaturesensor mounted to the supply duct for detecting a temperature of therefrigerating chamber, and a controller for calculating a detected valueof the temperature sensor and controlling the cooling unit and themixing unit to make the temperature of the refrigerating chamber bewithin a predetermined temperature range.
 7. The supercoolingrefrigerator of claim 1, wherein the supply duct has an inlet formedbetween an upper side thereof and the main body, and the mixing unitincludes at least one fan or blower mounted to the inlet to the supplyduct for drawing air from the refrigerating chamber into the inlet tothe supply duct and circulating the air to the refrigerating chamberthrough the air holes by driving the fan or blower.
 8. The supercoolingrefrigerator of claim 1, wherein the supply duct is mounted to beconnected between a top and a bottom of the main body, and the mixingunit includes at least one fan or blower arranged over the heatexchanger in the supply duct for circulating the air from therefrigerating chamber through the air holes in the supply duct by thefan or blower.
 9. The supercooling refrigerator of claim 1, wherein thesupply duct is mounted to be connected between a top and a bottom of amain body, with a partition wall formed therein for partitioning a heatexchanging area and an air hole area to partition the supply duct into aheat exchanger passage and an air hole passage, with the heat exchangerpassage having an inlet connected to an introduction hole formed in thesupply duct and an outlet connected to the air hole passage through thepartition wall, wherein the mixing unit includes at least one fan orblower mounted to the outlet of the partition wall or the heat exchangerpassage for circulating the air from the refrigerating chamber to thesupply duct through the air holes formed in the supply duct.